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Faced with a looming shortage of cybersecurity talent, major firms are taking the matter into their own hands by creating company-led programs designed to attract young people into the STEM fields and hopefully into careers protecting computer infrastructure somewhere down the line. Since 2005, Raytheon has pumped millions of dollars into MathMovesU, an educational enrichment program. Meanwhile, companies such as Siemens and Lockheed Martin host national contests to identify emerging talent and place engineers into classrooms to educate students about careers in the tech field.

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Faced with a looming shortage of cybersecurity talent, major firms are taking the matter into their own hands by creating company-led programs designed to attract young people into science, tech, engineering and math fields, and perhaps into careers protecting computer infrastructure somewhere down the line. Since 2005, Raytheon has pumped millions of dollars into MathMovesU, an educational-enrichment program. Companies such as Siemens and Lockheed Martin host national contests to identify emerging talent and place engineers in classrooms to educate students about careers in the tech field.

Symantec security researchers are tracking a new strain of malware originating in Mexico that lets hackers drain cash machines of their contents. Two versions of the Ploutus malware -- which relies on a disk inserted into specific ATM models -- have been translated from Spanish into English, making investigators believe hackers are preparing to bring the operation into the U.S. and other countries.

The need for cybersecurity experts is growing in the U.S., and to help generate student interest in the field, Lockheed Martin recently hosted more than 200 high-school students at its Gaithersburg, Md., campus. Representatives of local colleges also were on hand to discuss their cybersecurity programs. "Cybersecurity is an area where the demand for graduates in this field is very, very high -- much higher than other fields," said Lee Holcomb, director of cybersecurity for Lockheed Martin.

As demand for cybersecurity expertise increases, the talent pool is small, posing a significant challenge to organizations, especially in the federal IT security sector. Closing the skills gap requires proactive measures to improve recruitment before college graduation, as well as efforts to bring more women into the field, writes Dana Grinshpan, research manager for the Government Business Council.

The U.S. government awarded $30 million apiece to Northrop Grumman, Lockheed-Martin and Raytheon to see who can come up with the best "space fence" surveillance system to keep orbiting debris from hitting astronauts and spacecraft.